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27 Sep 2017 8:21:59am

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As I you ran out of time and couldn't include me, I thought I'd comment here.I have lived in Singapore for the past year, but I return frequently to Australia for family reasons. From 2004-7, I also lived in Bangkok. One thing I have noticed is that by comparison Australia seems to have an aggressively masculine culture. From driving - woe betide you if you travel at the speed limit - to waiting in queues at the airport, Australians seem impatient and aggressive. I do wonder whether one reason might be the general sense of entitlement in the West that makes people enraged as soon as things don't go their way. When you think you deserve to get to work without any hold ups, or to be served quickly in a restaurant, or to get that promotion, then your perspective will be very different from someone who doesn't have the same sense of automatic entitlement. People who feel entitled don't cope well with problems or failure and tend to blame others.From my experience, the East has a more co-operative culture. Perhaps this comes from living in small crowded spaces, or from the dominant Chinese culture here, which emphasises respect for elders and family loyalty? But here, the social contract is very much in place. People are more polite and respectful - and not because there is a culture of fear, as some Australians like to suggest. But most of all, I notice a difference in the attitude to women. The conversations I have with my daughter and her friends about their public safety in Melbourne do not occur when they are here.

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